TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews

TIFF 2018 Capsule Review: OUT OF BLUE (UK 2018)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Out of Blue Poster
When Detective Mike Hoolihan is called to investigate the shooting of leading astrophysicist and black hole expert, Jennifer Rockwell, she is affected in ways she struggles to comprehend.

Director:

Carol Morley

Writers:

Martin Amis (based on the novel by), Carol Morley

Stars:

Patricia Clarkson, James Caan, Mamie Gummer

This is a British film with Brit director Carol Morley (DREAMS OF LIFE) from her script based on Martin Amis’s 1997 novel Night Train set in the U.S.  It follows Mike Hoolihan, a homicide detective’s (Patricia Clarkson) investigation into the shooting of a leading astrophysicist and black-hole expert. 

The killing destabilizes her view of the universe and herself.  The film aims at an examination of a highly intelligent, indeed metaphysical, exploration of existence but it ends up all over the place including an out of place odd scene with Hoolihan dancing in a strip club with the other female dancers.  The solution to the killing is revealed mid-way through the film and the film meanders into her existence and guilt after.  

Clarkson is as usual, excellent in her role (minus the pole dancing) but this is a wasted performance in a character the script never bothers to get the audience to identify with.

TIFF 2018 Review: CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (USA 2018) ***1/2

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Poster
Trailer

When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception. An adaptation of the memoir Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel.

Director:

Marielle Heller

Writers:

Nicole Holofcener (screenplay by), Jeff Whitty (screenplay by)

Stars:

Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells

 

It takes courage to make for comedian Melissa McCarthy to lose all that weight and to star in a serious role of a convicted felon as well as to bring to the screen the story of a protagonist that is annoying and not one many can root for.  

Accolades for the effort.  Based on the book/biography of the same name, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? tells the story of failed writer Lee Israel who did at one time make it on the New York Times Best 10  bestseller list but now, down spiralled to drinking and being exceptionally rude to everyone.  She is a petty thief as well.  Then she learns something she is really good at, forging literary letters and selling them to collectors.  She befriends a gay Brit (Richard E. Grant) who does not help her esteem either. 

Heller’s first third of the film shows Lee as a dislikable person, despite offering some break in her jokes and insults.  Heller and McCarthy achieves their difficult task of getting the audience to slowly become sympathetic (if not root) for the character after that.  

But the film is a biography and a study character of the forger Lee Israel and in that sense, the film succeeds tremendously.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvJIaNsf_bY

TIFF 2017 Review: ASSASSINATION NATION (USA 2018)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Assassination Nation Poster
Trailer

This is a thousand percent a true story about how the quiet, all-American town of Salem absolutely lost its mind.

Director:

Sam Levinson

Writer:

Sam Levinson

Stars:

Odessa Young, Hari Nef, Suki Waterhouse

ASSASSINATION NATION had a standing ovation at the Midnight Madness premiere at TIFF – not so much that the film was any good but for the spirit of the director, actors and publicity that included a full band entering the theatre during the closing credits to perform the end song in unison with the band playing on the screen.  

The film opens with a barrage of audience warnings (and with reason) of the countless ways one’s sensibilities could be shattered by is about to transpire on screen that includes pedophilia and rape.  Set in the suburban community of Salem, the film’s mayhem first ignites when an anonymous hacker starts exposing the private data of select citizens. When the hacker suddenly exposes half the town, an initial wave of righteous public shaming gives way to a violent mob mentality of paranoid prejudice where the pitchforks are no longer proverbial.  

The target are 4 high-school girls.  So it is them s. Salem with the audience clearly on the girls’s side.  Lots of glorified violence, inane dialogue and scenes that have continuity problems and make no sense. 

But this is after all a Midnight Madness movie and the audience loved the film, despite its flaws.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9qyOGEuLY4

TIFF 2018 Review: ANIARA (Sweden 2018) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Aniara Poster
A spaceship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe.

Directors:

Pella Kagerman (as Pella Kågerman), Hugo Lilja

Writers:

Pella Kagerman (as Pella Kågerman), Hugo Lilja |1 more credit »

Stars:

Emelie Jonsson, Bianca Cruzeiro, Arvin Kananian

This is a sci-fi disaster film based on a prescient epic poem by Swedish Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson that could very well be a based on true fact event set in the not too far distant future.  
A ship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe.   ANIARA is the name of one of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars.   ANIARA is also a giant shopping mall, but once the accident occurs, no one knows when they will go back on course towards Mars.  The film tracks the time period of the time of the accident, a few weeks after, then a few months after followed by years after.  
The settlers get addicted to a room where the protagonist (Emilie Jonsson) runs a computer that can recall their best memories (nods to Kore-eda’s AFTER LIFE).  The premise is excellent coupled with great production sets but the film’s narrative stays dead ended.

TIFF 2018 Review: PHOENIX (FONIKS) (Norway/Sweden 2018) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Phoenix Poster
From a young age, Jill has acted as the responsible adult in her small family. She cares for her loving but mentally unstable mother and her younger brother. The news that their estranged …See full summary »

Director:

Camilla Strøm Henriksen

Writer:

Camilla Strøm Henriksen

Stars:

Konrad Agnas, Idun Daae Alstad, Maria Bonnevie

The title of the film comes from the fact that the creature, the PHOENIX can rise from the ashes and rise to great heights as the protagonist, a young girl struggles to keep her family together in the aftermath of a tragedy, that forces her to grow up far too quickly. 

 Jill has to love and put up with her emotionally challenged mother Astrid (Maria Bonnevie).  She also has to look after her younger brother.  Her birthday is approaching the coming Saturday which prompts a visit from her father, Nils (the irresistibly good-looking Sverrir Gudnason) who has left the family.  There is not much else story-wise but director Camilla Strøm Henriksen emerges the audience right into the story, feeling for Jill as well as what might happen to her fragile family. 

 A remarkable emotional first film told from a youth’s point of view.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=jk0bA3sf8-Q

TIFF 2018 Review: THE WEEKEND (USA 2018) ** Directed by Stella Meghie

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A comedian goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

Director:

Stella Meghie

Writer:

Stella Meghie

Stars:

Y’lan Noel, Kym Whitley, DeWanda Wise

THE WEKEND is a vast improvement over her last film JEAN OF THE JONESES, but that is not saying much.  Her films are catered to a select audience, the wealthy, young and good looking black community.  In THE WEEKEND, there is no black poverty or any white people on display.  The film has a strong female slant with a black female director and protagonist. 

 The film centres on an acerbic comedian (Sasheer Zamata).  She becomes romantically entangled with her ex (Tone Bell), his new girlfriend (DeWanda Wise), and another guest (Y’Lan Noel) who falls for her.  The film is called THE WEEKEND because all the action (or non-action) takes places during a weekend getaway, the story divided into the days of the weekend, ending with Sunday.  The film is not that funny just like the standup comic routine she gives that book-ends the film.  

Yes, it is all about her and the audience can figure that out quite soon into the movie and not really care about her soon after.   Does she get her man back?  No prizes for guessing.  

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6_uXQYbn0A

TIFF 2018 Review: THE SISTERS BROTHERS (USA/France/Romania/Spain 2018) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Sisters Brothers Poster
Trailer

In 1850s Oregon, a gold prospector is chased by the infamous duo of assassins, the Sisters brothers.

Director:

Jacques Audiard

Writers:

Jacques Audiard (screenplay by), Thomas Bidegain (screenplay by) |1 more credit »

Stars:

John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal

Director Audiard’s films have always benefited from oddball protagonists from his first film, De Battre mon coeur s’est arrêté to DHEEPAN to UN PROPHETE.  Two weird protagonists create havoc in his latest film adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s award-winning western novel called THE SISTERS BROTHERS.  

Two brothers with the last name ‘sisters’,  Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) are bounty hunters sent to kill a prospector (Riz Ahmed) accused of stealing from a tyrannical crime boss (Rutger Hauer). Their journey takes them through an encounter of myriad complications from San Francisco and through the Sierra Nevada: witches, bears, a madam who owns a town and commands a murderous army of fur trappers, and a detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) tracking the same peculiar man they are.  It is a great adventure, also for the audience to see Audiard excel with different material.  

Also, the film is quite funny with biting humour and a bit of message on the lessons in life.  And as in all his films, the goal of his protagonist is to have a stable life.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OwvqKwTKmE

TIFF 2018 Review: BEFORE THE FROST (Denmark 2018) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Before the Frost Poster
As winter approaches in rural 1850s Denmark, an old farmer (Jens) and his family face starvation. With the harsh circumstances and the prospect of yet another tough winter, Jens agrees to …See full summary »

Director:

Michael Noer

Writers:

Jesper Fink, Michael Noer

Stars:

Jesper Christensen, Bertil De Lorenzi, Adam Fischer

Director Michael Noer’s (the recent PAPILLON remake) fifth feature, tells the heart-wrenching story of a struggling Dane farmer in 19th-century Denmark , Jens (Jesper Christensen)  who must go against his morals and make a deal with a wealthy Swede in order to secure his family’s survival over a harsh winter.  He would do anything including murder for is children. 

 The deal is to be made with the Swede which includes offering his daughter to him.  The daughter detests the fact and hates her father for it.  But things change.  People change too.  This is a meticulously crafted tale, classic Dickens hardship and lessons and a satirical Orwellian twist similar to ANIMAL FARM where the pigs transform int the human beings they overthrow.  Here, the protagonist, Jens transforms into the enemy he initially despises.  

The film also offers an eye-opening look on old farming and living practices in Denmark.

TIFF 2018 Review: TELL IT TO THE BEES (UK 2018) ***1/2

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Tell It to the Bees Poster
A single mother Lydia (Holliday Grainger) who is abandoned by her husband, meets the small village’s Doctor Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) who has recently returned to her hometown when Lydia’s…See full summary »

Director:

Annabel Jankel

Writers:

Henrietta Ashworth (adaptation), Jessica Ashworth(adaptation) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Anna Paquin, Holliday Grainger, Gregor Selkirk

Based on the novel by Fiona Shaw with a post World War II setting, TELL IT TO THE BEES comes from the very little heard proverb about keeping secrets from neighbours but telling it to the bees.  This is a lesbian love story taking place in a Scottish small town, so it be best that this be kept a secret. 

 A brilliant female doctor (Anna Paquin) has just moved to the village.  She befriends a young boy.  When the boy’s mother and him is evicted rom their home after the father has left them, the doctor takes them in, only to start a love affair and relationship with the mother.  This is an emotional gut wrenching tale but with a fairy tale twist that takes away some of the story’s credibility.  But who can turn away a good fairly tale these days?  

Director Jankel loves the Scottish countryside and her film shows this – with lots of beautiful Scottish landscape scenery.

Trailer: (clip) http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2018/09/07/tiff-2018-new-clip-for-tell-it-to-the-bees-with-anna-paquin-holliday-grainger/

TIFF 2018 Review: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (USA 2018)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

If Beale Street Could Talk Poster
Trailer

A woman in Harlem desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime while carrying their first child.

Director:

Barry Jenkins

Writers:

Barry Jenkins (written for the screen by), James Baldwin (novel)

Stars:

KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King

The follow-up to his first Oscar Winner for Best Picture MOONLIGHT, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK sees one again the victimized black in a prejudiced light.  Based on the book by James Baldwin, the film follows a 19-year old  woman fighting to free her falsely accused husband from prison before the birth of their child.   

Tish (KiKi Layne) is only 19 but she is been forced to grow up fast. She is left pregnant by Fonny (Stephan James), the man she loves. But Fonny is going to prison for a crime he did not commit, due to, as clearly emphasized in the film by a racist white redneck cop.  For a film with such a fiery plot, Jenkins’ film is extremely slow-paced, sometimes unintentionally funny with many segments plain dragging along.   

One could probably fault the source material for there is hardly any surprise in the story, quite unlike Jenkins’ last film, but Jenkins does not allow his actors or his camerawork to perform as freely as in MOONLIGHT.  The film also shifts uncomfortably among three subjects, Tish, her mother and Fonny.

 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp9cyhARz6U&vl=en